


K is for Key

by Psychodelikas



Series: The Alphabet of Dreams [12]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Breakfast is the fruitiest meal of the day!, F/F, F/M, Gasp! Can it be?, Has it finally happened?!, Sarah is awesome!, Things are FINALLY getting somewhere tangibile, Vala's revenge has finally started, fond memories, of course she is awesome, sorta - Freeform, yas!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychodelikas/pseuds/Psychodelikas
Summary: Sarah thought for a moment. “I was chosen to change things. I suspect, you’ve been chosen for the same reason but unlike myself, your task shall be infinitely more difficult.”“How so?” I asked fascinated. I took a sip of coffee and was stunned at how delicious it was. Not the same brand Jared had offered me but very close.She grinned. “If my suspicions are correct, then you’ve been chosen to change someone, not something.”





	K is for Key

I woke up feeling unusually good. I slowly straightened my back and smiled silly. Jared had prepared the same room I had first slept in. Then my smile dropped as I realized that sneaky Jared had used the book in order to take my mind off Sarah’s words. 

And it had worked like a charm. 

Muttering to myself grumpy, I got out of bed and showered. As was to be expected, fresh clothes awaited me. Before I put them on, I looked at the wardrobe placed on the wall opposite the bathroom entrance. I approached it and opened its doors. 

“Of course…” I exclaimed sighing. It was full of clothes which I had no doubt fitted me perfectly. “I really need to ask Jared how the hell he knew my size.” Then my highly erotic dream replayed in my head. “Nope,” I reconsidered as I closed the doors. “Not gonna ask him  _anything.”_  

Laughing, I changed then left the room. I had barely taken two steps when I almost bumped into Sarah. “Hi!” she greeted me with a wide smile. “I was just on my way to see if you were up.” 

“Morning,” I said automatically. 

“Come on, I’ll treat you breakfast!” 

I wasn’t even able to form a proper protest so I just resumed myself to incoherent mumbles as she dragged me along and which made Sarah laugh. 

On the terrace, people were lost in their own conversations and food so our presence was barely noticed. I spied Zane at a round table with her usual companions minus the  _démon_ children. I grinned as I saw James Walker was with her too but sadly, in the company of a woman I had not seen before.  _Hm._  

“All right,” Sarah said as she picked a table and sat down. “Please,” she motioned me, gesturing at the seat opposite her. I chuckled as I obeyed. “So how did you sleep?” 

“Amazing,” I said truthfully. I wanted to continue but at that precise moment, a fairy waiter appeared out of nowhere. I yelped in surprise and quickly covered my mouth. 

“Apologies,” he said with an accent I couldn’t place, his pale green wings shining in the warm sunlight. “Have  _madams_ decided what to eat?” 

“The fruit special,” Sarah ordered for the both of us. “Oh, and coffee. Leave the pot.” I nodded at that. 

“In a jiffy.” And he vanished in a shower of glitter. 

“Wow,” I exclaimed. 

“I said the same thing, too,” she agreed. “Now, shall we get down to business?” 

I opened my mouth to answer and froze like that as two cups appeared out of thin air along with a pot of fresh coffee. I stared as the hot liquid was poured into each of our cups. Once it was done, the pot sat itself down in the middle of the table. 

“You’ll get used to it, eventually,” Sarah observed cheery. “Around here, everything is done with magic. I know. Hard to understand or believe but it is the way it is.” 

“What are you?” I asked rather rudely but I couldn’t help myself. 

“Oh, I’m human, just like you,” she answered casually, taking a sip of her coffee. She didn’t show any sign that my question had offended her. “And just like you, I was chosen for something though not in the same way or for the same thing.” 

“May I ask what?”  _See, brain? You can manners when you want._  

Sarah thought for a moment. “I was chosen to change things. I suspect, you’ve been chosen for the same reason but unlike myself, your task shall be infinitely more difficult.” 

“How so?” I asked fascinated. I took a sip of coffee and was stunned at how delicious it was. Not the same brand Jared had offered me but very close. 

She grinned. “If my suspicions are correct, then you’ve been chosen to change some _one,_  not some _thing_.” 

I almost chocked on my coffee. I slowly put the cup down. At that moment, the table was suddenly filled with strips of brightly colored magic which revealed plates full with fruits of all shapes, sizes and colors. Most of them I had never seen in my entire life but my mouth watered at the sight of them just the same. 

“Neat!” I exclaimed. 

“And addicting,” Sarah agreed, winking once at me as she started filling her empty plate. 

I giggled and started selecting fruits. “May I ask a personal question?” 

“Those are my favorite kind.” 

I laughed, astonished at how easy it was to talk with her. “How old are you?” 

“Ah, a classic!” she exclaimed delighted. I smiled silly. “I’m gonna turn thirty-seven in two months.” 

“Damn!” I exclaimed without thinking. 

“Thank you,” she said smiling. She pointed her finger at me. “I bet you this fruit your next question is when I met Jared!” 

“Damn,” I laughed, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“Ha!” she said triumphantly then thought for a moment. “I couldn’t have been more than seventeen. Yeah, seventeen.” She scoffed. “Lemme tell ya. I was completely lost in stories of princes and princesses and magic. Jared seemed like a dream come true.” She smiled fondly. “For a little while, he actually was. Then I grew up and made his life miserable.” 

I covered my face with my hand as I laughed at her comment. “I swear, it’s like I’m talking to a dark-haired version of Zane.” 

“Awww!” she exclaimed affectionately, putting a hand over her heart. “That is so sweet of you to say, thank you.” 

I shook my head then took a bite out of a dark purple fruit which resembled an abstractly shaped apple. My eyes widened as my taste buds were bombarded. If I hadn’t known any better, I could have sworn I had just tasted crystallized, kiwi-flavored sugar. The fruit’s inside freakin’ sparkled and was a pale shade of pink. 

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, my mouth half full. “What the hell is this and how can I replace my blood with it?” 

It was Sarah’s turn to laugh. “That, my dear, is the yap-yap fruit.” 

“The are-you-shitting-me fruit?” 

She laughed again then winked at me. “Give it time and you’ll understand. Now back to business!” She ate a few golden grape buds before she spoke. “Mm! You gotta try these next. Unlike most people, I experienced Jared’s castle in a different way even than you, Vala. I have nothing against the way Jared runs things around here. I even went through the whole twenty-five thing myself. But the way I had  _previously_ seen my wildest dreams come true seems like a much better way of showing people what they can become.” 

“You knew about this place before you’d actually been inside the castle?” 

“In a manner of speaking.” She grinned. “But it was Jared’s  _father’s_  castle that I saw first.” 

And once more, I felt the familiar pangs of jealousy. But only briefly. “How?” I asked curious. 

“Let’s just say that…as a teenager, it’s very frustrating to live in a fantasy world when you’ve got a three-month-old brother to look after when the parents go out on a date.” 

I scoffed. “Sorry.” 

“Not nearly as sorry as I was when I let my own childish emotions get the better of me.” 

“Why? What did you do?” 

Sarah shifted embarrassed in her seat. “I kinda wished my brother away…” 

“But from what I hear, that’s perfectly natural.” 

“Is it perfectly natural for that wish to come true?” 

I froze with the half eaten apple inches away from my open mouth. “Come again?” 

“Yep,” she confirmed. 

I blinked a few times at her. “What did you wish for?” 

“I…sorta, kinda wished the goblins would take my brother away.” She smiled guilty. 

I managed to look at her seriously for precisely two seconds then I burst into laughter. Then for the following ten minutes, I blabbered on and on about how it’s both perfectly natural to wish an annoying person was out of one’s life and feel guilty about it because said person was one’s baby brother. 

I was just about to explain how normal it was to use metaphors so as to hide the very real desire to have one’s sibling out of one’s life when I realized I had been the only one talking. I looked at the purple apple in my hand then at Sarah. 

“Yap-yap fruit,” she repeated, her smile touching her ears. 

I pressed my lips into a line and gently set it aside. “I get it now.” 

“Yeah,” she chuckled then became serious. “But anyway, what’s important is that at the time, the person in charge wasn’t Jared. It was still his father. And between you and me, I will be forever grateful for that because Jared is sneaky as hell! I would have had a much more difficult time getting Toby back if he had called the shots. Not that his father wasn’t a piece of cake, or anything. But he was a lot more…reasonable.” 

As she spoke, I saw before my eyes a young goblin prince and king talking about war. I blinked that silly idea away. “I’m glad you managed to sort everything out in the end.” 

“Oh, me too. Can you imagine the hell my parents would have put me through if I had told them I lost the baby?” 

I laughed whole-heartedly at that. 

“All right, Vala,” Sarah said professionally. I straightened my back automatically. “We’ve had enough small talk. Let’s get down to the real business.” 

And just like that, we discussed the castle’s ability to show people the consequences their choices had in full. We talked about how generally speaking, the idea was great and more than beneficial. But the human factor was unpredictable. It was true that a person could see that by killing a family of four, they could end up serving life. It was also true that said person could take special note of how the police caught them and not make that mistake. The castle really had no way of suppressing free will and therein was its only flaw. 

Sarah had a completely different approach which to me seemed a lot more efficient than to just simply  _show_ people a fancy parlor trick. Her idea went even further and actually let everyone  _experience_ everything on their own skins. The only problem was to convince Jared she was right. 

“I see your problem,” I told her after an hour’s worth of conversation. 

“Thank you,” she said then grinned. “I was actually hoping  _you_ could have a talk with Jared about it.” 

I sighed annoyed. “Okay, I gotta know. What makes you so sure he’d listen to me in the first place?” 

“Do you honestly think he would take anyone out to dinner the way he did with you?” 

_Shit…_  I stared at her with a silly expression and my mouth parted. 

“Believe me, Vala. Jared is not the same man he once was. Not since he met you. He was…cold, distant. Some might even go so far as to call him cruel. But there was a softer side to him which he rarely let people around him see. I am not ashamed to say I only suspected there was more to him than met the eye but I never felt the need to dig deeper.” She leaned in. “Between you and me, I’m glad nothing serious ever happened. I value Jared the way he is right now than as anything else.” She smiled kindly at me. “But you, you’re different and he knows it. He might not show it but he’s utterly fascinated by you. I guess you could say you’ve turned his world.” 

_Okay, brain. What the hell do we say to something like that?_  

“And I’m also not ashamed to say that you’re the key to my idea coming true so I’m gonna shower you with compliments every time I see you, if that’s what it takes.” 

I laughed way too hard at that but I couldn’t help myself. I had wanted to not like Sarah. I even wanted to hate her. But the simple truth was I adored her! 

*****  

***     ***  

*****  

After my amazing morning in Sarah’s company, I searched for Zane and was only a bit surprised to discover she was still at the table. What I liked even more was the absence of that unknown woman. I still had my doubts about her status but why let an opportunity to torture my best friend pass me by? 

As it turned out, the band of misfits had spent their entire morning coming up with a pranks plan for the following week! There was a perfectly valid reason for that, according to Zane. Chris, Varius and the children would be leaving the following Sunday and it was their last chance for a long time to have some fun. Will and Merlin would stay two more days then they would be off as well. 

That was all nice and well but I was dying to question Zane about her more than lovely companion. I was firmly convinced she knew that as well which was why she made sure she was always discussing tactics, strategies and time of attack with the guys. The only thing I saw in that approach was how she took special care not to look James’ way too often. He, on the other hand, always looked at her when she was speaking. The one useful thing I did manage to find out about him was that he was an energivore, the same as Will. 

Then I had a brilliant idea. “Zane, you’re a really poor excuse of a best friend, you know that?” I complained. 

“I didn’t do anything this time!” she defended herself shocked, making everyone at the table laugh. 

“Exactly!” I agreed, making the blonde girl look at me puzzled. “You promised you’d show me the library and what do you do instead? You eat one too many yap-yaps.” 

“Shut up, Valaria!” she exclaimed, her cheeks pink and finger pointed in my direction. Will had tears in his eyes, he was laughing that hard. 

“It’s all right,” I said dramatically, looking at my glass. “I can take a hint. I know when my best friend in the whole wide world doesn’t want to spend time with me.” 

“Alright, already!” Zane exclaimed, rolling her eyes annoyed but smiling. “I’ll take you to the bloody library.” 

“Do you want something for the road, love?” Chris asked, handing her a few purple apples. 

She smiled at him. “Varius, kill them for me, please.” 

“WHOA, NOW!” they all exclaimed panicked while the ancient vampire smiled with all of his teeth as he cracked his knuckles. 

Laughing, the two of us finally left the terrace and headed inside. But instead of letting her lead, I took Zanthe by the hand and dragged her up to my room. “Okay, spill,” I demanded once we were safe inside. “What’s the deal with Walker?” 

“I knew it!” she said, pointing her finger at me again. “I knew you were up to something sneaky!” 

“Why, thank you. I had an excellent teacher. Now start talking about how the guy really has no girlfriend.” 

“You know what? I have no idea,” she said defeated, crashing down on the bed. “She knows him for a long time, that’s for sure. But she’s so touchy-feely and familiar with him, I have no idea what she is to him.” She frowned. “Why the hell are we talking about this?” 

“Because I’m tired of being on the receiving end.” 

“Fair enough.” 

“And because you clearly have the major hots for him but you’re too chicken to make a move.” 

“Look who’s talking!” 

“Bite me!” 

We laughed at our silly reaction. Then there was a knock on the door. Zane and I focused our sights on it at the same time then exchanged a confused look. 

None other than Jared himself was smiling at me after I opened the door. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said as he invited himself in. 

“Oh, no, no, no,” I mocked as I closed the door. “I insist. Please, come in.” 

“Always on the same page, you and I,” he said charmingly as Zane let out a throaty laugh. He addressed himself to her. “And now, my dear. Would you be so kind as to assist Timotheus at the front desk?” 

Zane gasped silly. “I would love to!” she said as she jumped to her feet and more or less hopped to the door. 

“Make sure you don’t cross any energivore’s path,” I told her sweetly. 

She pressed her lips into a line at me, her back slightly hunched. 

I yelped panicked as the small rug underneath my feet  _literally_ flew away, making me fall right into Jared’s arms. 

“Ah!” Zane exclaimed softly, putting both hands over her heart. “I love this place!” She did a small pirouette and left the room importantly, the door closing behind her all on its own and the rug landing softly and soundlessly back in its place. 

And just like that, I was left alone with the man of my dreams. Better than that, I was in his arms. And I couldn’t look away from his enchanting eyes. Despite the fact that shock and surprise were written all over his beautiful and flawless face, his gold and ruby stare was irresistible. 

I registered that my body had developed a mind of its own and I was bringing my face closer to his. For the briefest of moments, I considered that I should stop or that he would make me stop, both at the same time. 

Then Jared made the distance between us disappear by crashing his lips on mine. He didn’t waste any time and kissed me passionately, making me moan in surprise. With one hand, he kept my head firmly pressed against his while he made sure my body wouldn’t hit the ground with the other. I vaguely observed that he was a lot stronger than he appeared if he could hold me at an odd angle with just the one arm. 

But I was way too lost in his delicious lips to think at all. The only thing I was aware of was how sweet he tasted and how soft his lips were. They moved so perfectly over mine, I selfishly thought they had been made especially for me. 

Then the bastard decided he wanted more so he quickly gave my butt a healthy squeeze. I gasped into the kiss and he smirked because I had fallen right into his trap. Jared didn’t even hesitate and engaged my tongue in a heated battle for dominance. Putting up a proper fight never crossed my mind and I moaned deeply as he won with ease. 

The fact that he too moaned in delight made everything that much better. Jared even let go of my head so that he could wrap his arm around my shoulders and the other, more around my middle. I coiled my arms around his neck thus making sure our bodies were perfectly glued to one another. 

I wanted time to stand still. 

Sadly, Jared stopped the kiss abruptly and loudly. I didn’t bother to stop myself from whining, demanding silently that he resume kissing me. He only stared at me, breathing heavily and with a strange, almost hungry look. I noticed that there were very few traces of gold and ruby in his dark eyes which made me want him more. 

Slowly, reluctantly, he brought my body to a normal standing position then distanced himself from me. “You know, I had a completely different reason for coming here,” he told me after a painfully long moment of silence. He half smirked. “I like the way things turned out.” 

I smiled and looked to my feet as I put a lock of hair behind my ear. “It doesn’t…it doesn’t have to stop,” I said shyly. “N-not if you don’t want it to…” I did the bravest thing in my entire life and raised my sight to him. 

If such a thing were possible, Jared looked even more out of breath than he already was, his eyes completely dark and predatory. “Believe me,” he almost growled huskily. “Stopping is not on my list of things I want right now.” He took half a step in my direction then thought differently. “But it’s just not possible. For now, at least.” 

It would have been kinder if he had told me he was secretly in love with someone else and I reminded him of her. 

My reaction was probably written all over my face because Jared tried to smile in his usual style. “Alas, that is one more tale for another time.” He wanted to add more but changed his mind. “I will speak with you again later, my dear.” 

Jared turned around and left my room in a hurry, almost like he was afraid that if he didn’t run, he might do something he was fighting very hard not to do. 

I climbed on the bed, took a pillow and crashed my face on it, screaming my lungs into the fabric.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for still being here! :)
> 
> I hope things will get better for you from now on.


End file.
